The impact of information architecture techniques on website usability

Abstract

It is well-known that improving the usability of a website has benefits on customer experience and user satisfaction. However, the investment needed to run usability tests to understand the mental models of the personas being analysed, and use that to produce a better Information Architecture is sometimes too high to justify the benefits. This study aims to analyse the impact that an inexpensive Information Architecture technique, named card sorting, has on the usability of a website. Two websites are treated by running a card sorting study on each. The Modified-Delphi Method is used to further reduce the cognitive cost of the technique, while providing an easier way to reach consensus. Finally, user performance is compared by running an experiment on both the treated and untreated versions of each website. Eye-tracking technologies are used to get a better understanding of users’ actions while solving assigned tasks. The data collected is then evaluated to determine if there are any marked improvements in completion rates, time-on-task, and participant satisfaction. The results show strong evidence to support the claim that card sorting has a significant impact on usability, and that therefore it is a valid technique that returns substantial results for minimal cost. Additionally, insights gained throughout the course of the study are presented, as well as issues encountered by the users.